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Topic: My Home Built Radial Honey Extractor (Read 35514 times)

ok ACE...........let the cat out of the bag, what is going to happen?? So far I havnt had a single problem, and dont for see any problems happening. And yes, everything about my extractor that touches the honey IS food grade, unlike yours. I made sure to get a food grade barrel, a food grade honey gate and anything metal and wood got coated with food grade epoxy..............so that makes everything that touches the honey food grade.

And your right, ceiling fans are located in kitchens and dining rooms..............but.............have you ever cleaned one before?? If you have you would notice the dust that collects on them a inside of them. Oh ya, and your not eating food off of them either. Until I decide I want to buy an all SS extractor this one will work just fine, and when I do decide to sell it, I bet it will sell pretty quick as well! How about yours?

Why would somebody buy something that is so simple to make themselves?FYI An unprotected friction belt drive above a vessel is not food grade. At the end of the day the amount of foreign particles that enters the vessel will be far more than a clean ceiling fan motor that is direct drive.

Ace, you are such a sly guy, you actually seen the belt drive, clever you. Now, did you happen to see the two pieces of lexan on the barrel?? There is one piece that goes under the plywood section up to within 1/4" of the drive shaft. There is another piece that goes on the "open" section of the barrel, where the frames go in. After the extractor is loaded that piece is put back into place, which not only protects the honey from most particulates..........but also prevents the honey mist particles from leaving th extractor and coating myself and my working area. The reason you dont see the lexan pieces, the extractor is not in motion and I was taking pictures of the working parts.

Now back to your ceiling fan motor, it doesnt matter if it is direct drive or not, you dug it out of a dumpster and put it into your honey extractor with out cleaning it thoroughly or coating it with a food grade epoxy. Honey is acidic there for it is eating away at the fancy finish of your motor and contaminating the honey with metal flakes that chip off, not to mention the dust from inside the motor housing and any old honey that is in the cracks and hard to reach places of your ceiling fan motor that make it into your current extraction process.

After extraction all I have to do is unscrew the plywood control panel, remove the belt and slide the motor out of the way on the extrude rail, remove the 2x4 with the frame that holds the honey frames and slide the barrel out and hose them down with soap and water, let dry and do it all over again.

Now tell me, do you tear apart your ceiling fan motor completely from top to bottom? I mean, even if you protect it with a ziplock baggie, honey will make its way into your motor.

Plain and simple, I seen "your" idea on youtube before I built my extractor and I hated it. That is why I went another route that is more sanitary and controllable. I have plenty of variable speed an power in my motor, how about yours?? I can do deeps and mediums and shallows (if I had any) and probably would have plenty of power just to throw the whole hive in the extractor!

So plain and simple, just admit that I made a better product and your jealous of this red neck extractor. This SANITARY red neck extractor............yes I said extractor, not vessel.............I dont think my extractor would float, to dang heavy.

Had to edit: OMG I actually watched your video!!! You actually used pvc to connect your un-epoxied metal frame to!! And it spins around inside a hole cut into plywood, I could only imagine the pvc particualtes and plywood shavings that fall down with the honey onto your UNPROTECTED ceiling fan motor and into the honey that is collecting on the bottom of that barrel. Did I mention the sweat dripping into the UNCOVERED barrel that mixes with the honey? I noticed the spilled honey all over the side of the barrel. Aleast everyone not only gets your honey in a bottle, but they actually get YOU in the bottle as well!! How sweet and sour it is!!

That is the part that I really like about the ceiling fan motor it is already a torque drive motor with the RPM's in the correct range for extracting. I don't bother with the three speeds anymore because when the frames are full it starts off slow and as the weight is removed from the frames it speeds up on it's own. The motor is wired for the highest speed and I just plug it into the wall socket to start it.Initially on my first trial runs I threw a frame and the importance of a torque limiting device was demonstrated. It stalled the motor and didn't even break a frame.The down side of using a ceiling fan motor is it has to be direct drive either suspended from the top as would be the common arrangement or mounted below as I have done. Both arrangements have their plus and minuses. I prefer the bottom arrangement because it gives a simpler and unobstructed loading and unloading of the frames. I do not see that protecting the motor from honey drippings is insurmountable.Not everyone has the machining capabilities of Mr Bix or the available materials he used. He has a done a great job without a doubt but the average Joe Shmoe would probably end up paying more than what is commercially available from the people that make a living at it.

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Although wood would not be an exceptable material in food processing plants because of cleaning issues using it for personal use in a homemade extractor is no different than using wooden frames as long as the wood can be dried after cleaning. A hobbyist only does one or two batches a year. Use all the wood you want.

Although wood would not be an exceptable material in food processing plants because of cleaning issues using it for personal use in a homemade extractor is no different than using wooden frames as long as the wood can be dried after cleaning. A hobbyist only does one or two batches a year. Use all the wood you want.

Acebird..........

Do you clean the wooden/plastic/metal parts of the hives ???

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

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"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may remember,involve me and I'll understand" Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." John F. KennedyFranklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

I think lots of items for human consumption are processed and aged in wooden containers. Wine and other spirits come to mind first. :-D I wouldn't use any sealer. There may be other chemicals to speed drying or hardening etc. I made my wooden pieces from poplar, the rest from food grade plastic and stainless steel.

Ace and BeeGhost... both of your designs are good for personal use as is most home mead honey extractors. Both have their good point and bad pionts. As far as bearings being in the honey, food grade grease pumped into them after boiling, heating or whatever else needs to be done to remove machine grease is one way to go.Bix what size frames can your machine do?~Randy

greatings from croatiaIn my country people use corded drils, and better one is powermixers for tile glue, stucco, exc.I have a tangential honey extractor, hand powerd, after a new year i will go to pick up a pair of window washer motor from a car to modify power. Reason is that motor from window washer have a reductor, and rev control and direction is menageble thru eletronoc potentiometer and 2 way switch.I have on my mind to convert tangetial into a radial extractor and it is few reason why not.First of all minimum distance from end bar of a honey frame to center axis is 250mm or 10" so do calculation.This distance is for stabile and safe work. Avoiding honey comb braking and "dancing" whit honey extractor. One of important things is polypropilen selens on bottom of the legs that absorb motion of the extractor, similar thing is used on outside units of air condition units.Inside i will allmost all replace whit inox mesh and inox square tubes.

Ace and BeeGhost... both of your designs are good for personal use as is most home mead honey extractors. Both have their good point and bad pionts. As far as bearings being in the honey, food grade grease pumped into them after boiling, heating or whatever else needs to be done to remove machine grease is one way to go.Bix what size frames can your machine do?~Randy

Sorry so long to get back. It only does mediums, not enough diameter to squeeze a deep frame in there. I set up the plates to do deeps tangentially, but when I tried it, didn't work so well. Without anything to support the comb, it just flies off.